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The Simpsons episode
"The Seemingly Never-Ending Story"
Episode no.	369
Prod. code	HABF06
Orig. Airdate	March 12, 2006
Show Runner(s)	Al Jean
Writer(s)	Ian Maxtone-Graham
Director(s)	Raymond Persi
Couch gag	The couch and family is delivered on a conveyer belt. Homer is added with a metal claw.
Guest star(s)	Maurice LaMarche
SNPP capsule
Season 17 September 11, 2005 – May 21, 2006
Bonfire of the Manatees The Girl Who Slept Too Little Milhouse of Sand and Fog Treehouse of Horror XVI Marge's Son Poisoning See Homer Run The Last of the Red Hat Mamas The Italian Bob Simpsons Christmas Stories Homer's Paternity Coot We're on the Road to D'ohwhere My Fair Laddy The Seemingly Never-Ending Story Bart Has Two Mommies Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife Million Dollar Abie Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore The Wettest Stories Ever Told Girls Just Want to Have Sums Regarding Margie The Monkey Suit Marge and Homer Turn a Couple Play
List of all Simpsons episodes...

The Seemingly Never-Ending Story is the thirteenth episode of the seventeenth season of The Simpsons, and the ninth Emmy Award-winning episode. It originally aired in the United States on March 12, 2006. The title is a take-off from the novel The Neverending Story, and the 1984 Wolfgang Petersen film of the same name.

While Homer is trapped in a cave, Lisa tells him a story from her past, vaguely similar to the episode "22 Short Films About Springfield."

Contents 1 Synopsis 2 The Stories 3 Trivia 4 Cultural references 5 Reception

While visiting a cave (called "Carl's Dad Caverns, a parody of Carlsbad Caverns), Homer meddles with a very fragile stalactite, with the result that the whole family ends up in a hidden cavern below the main tour—with Homer stuck in a narrow hole, half in and half out of the cavern. Noting that this cave is not on the tour's map, Marge and Bart go off to find an exit. Homer is afraid to be left alone in his position, so Lisa stays with him. To pass the time, she begins to tell a story. Homer warns her about not to put any unicorns in the story (to which she sighs).

Lisa tells how, the week before, she had been out for a walk when a big-horned goat inexplicably attacked her; and she ran to the nearest shelter, Charles Montgomery Burns' house. They run up the stairs with Burns using an electric chair attached to the handrail at times laughing at Lisa and begging Lisa not to let an old man die when the chair malfunctioned for a bit. The animal bursts in, and she and Mr. Burns wind up in the attic and block the entrance with boxes. There, Lisa finds a photo of Mr. Burns as an employee at Moe's, and he tells her the origins of it.

Mr. Burns explains that once, he and the Rich Texan were involved in a scavenger hunt, the winner of which would get all the possessions of the loser. Mr. Burns was unable to find the last item on the list—a picture of himself with a smiling child. (Every child was terrified of him.) Milhouse called him the grandfather of the bogeyman and when Burns smiled, the children only screamed louder. He grabbed all of the children and took a photo with them even with Otto, the bus driver but none of them smiled. The Texan won, and Mr. Burns had to go and work at Moe's. While there, he found a note hidden under an pickled egg jarto be opened when Moe Szyslak died, which led to Moe's story of a hidden treasure.

Apparently, the summer before Edna Krabappel was to begin teaching, she and Moe met by Moe getting hit by a bus and fell in love, albeit without her knowing he owned a bar (at the time, she hated bar owners since her ex-husband was an alcoholic). Scared that Edna would find out the truth about him, Moe wanted to leave Springfield with her but had no money. He then discovered that Snake Jailbird — who used to be an idealistic archaeologist — had discovered a large batch of Mayan coins he was going to donate to the museum. Moe ended up stealing them after deciding to steal the money or kill Snake and still the money, turning Snake to a life of crime to punish society. He was then about to leave town with Edna, but when she went into the school to explain that she was quitting, she saw Bart. (This leads to her story.) Bart explained he had all-summer detention, and felt he was a lost cause because no one believed in him. Edna declared that come the next year, when she was to teach fourth grade, she would help him to succeed. (It turns out, however, that Bart was actually just distracting Edna while he and Nelson were stealing microscopes and computers.) After explaining her decision to Moe, he flies into a rage and screams at her incoherently while dumping out her luggage before driving away to his tavern, even though the both of them don't want their relationship to end.

Utterly depressed, Moe puts priceless coins in his jukebox, playing their love theme over and over again. Mr. Burns (here ends Moe's story) opened it up and gave them to the Texan to buy back his things, but the Texan demanded that Mr. Burns produce a picture of himself with a smiling child before he could get the Plant back. (The Texan, he explained, has Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, thus feeling the need to complete the scavenger hunt.) Mr. Burns ends his story and he explains to Lisa that he cannot get the plant back.

Just then, the goat burst into the attic. Mr. Burns hurts himself defending Lisa by placing himself in front of Lisa and when rammed by the goat, he lands against the wall; however, it turns out that it doesn't want to kill them—in its story (which lasts but a few seconds) it explains that it found Lisa's pearl necklace on a branch and was merely trying to return it. Lisa, in gratitude to Mr. Burns for his attempted rescue, takes a photo of the two together with her smiling. This exits to the cave scene.

Just then, Homer breaks free of his trap, and suddenly reveals that he had an ulterior motive for bringing the family to the caves. He tells a story, explaining that while in the woods (hiding from babysitting duty), he saw the Texan hide the gold coins in the cave while singing a song, and brought the family so they could search for the gold to pay an operation for Bart, in which everybody doesn't know, including Bart who is unaware of this. Just then, the Texan with a pistol shows up, and the gold is found—just in time behind a rock for Mr. Burns (who has been hiding behind a stalactite), Moe, and Snake (who lowers himself with a rope from a hole high above) to also appear (in that order), and they enter a Mexican standoff. Everyone has guns except for Moe who makes noises with his mouth to sound like he has a gun. Snake had also brought his son as it is their weekend together and Bart and Snake's son play some sort of game together. Marge grabs the bag and threatens to drop it down a deep pit if they don't end their standoff. When she discovers the depth of their greed, she drops it—and instantly, everyone realizes how greedy they had been, and go out to volunteer as a way of atoning for their sins, with the exception of Mr. Burns, who attempts to climb down to get the gold.

Suddenly, it is revealed that the whole episode has all been a story by Bart, being told to Seymour Skinner as an explanation for why he didn't have time to study for a geography test. The principal finds this ridiculous — until he sees Moe and Edna kissing outside, meaning they've finally got back together. It is possible that they break up, though, because of Moe's sexual problems. The Texan shows up to taunt him for this.

Lisa's Story 1

• Lisa was walking home from school when a goat came up to her. She ran to Mr. Burns’s house and he let her in. The goat got through the window and chased them through Mr. Burns's house. They run up the stairs and go up the attic. Lisa finds out that Mr. Burns worked at Moe’s.

Mr. Burns' Story 1

• Mr. Burns was a member of a club. A new member came in and he challenged him to a duel. They both get a list of 10 items. The first person to get all the items is the winner and gets all the other person’s stuff. Mr. Burns went on the bus to get a picture of him with a smiling child. The Texan wins all Burns' stuff. Mr. Burns started working at Moe’s as a bar boy. He wasn’t getting enough money. He found Moe’s letter.

Moe's Story 1

• Moe was walking downtown and was hit by a bus. Edna came out and helped him. Moe steals a bag full of rare, antique coins from Snake Jailbird, who was not yet a criminal, but an archaeologist. Moe closes the tavern. He and Edna decide to leave town. Edna goes to the school to tell them that she wouldn’t be teaching there in the fall.

Edna's Story

• Edna went into the school and found Bart with detention all summer. She decides to stay at Springfield Elementary School as a fourth grade teacher.

Moe's Story 2

• Edna tells Moe that she is staying in Springfield to teach the children. Moe gets angry at Edna and drives off. Depressed, he uses the coins he stole to listen to the jukebox in his bar rather than spend them.

Mr. Burns' Story 2

• Mr. Burns finishes the letter and steals the money out of the jukebox. He then goes to the Texan and gives him the money but the Texan won’t give everything back until he gets a photo of Mr. Burns with a smiling child.

Lisa's Story 2

• The goat gets up to the attic and attacks Mr. Burns. The goat gives Lisa her pearl necklace.

The Goat's Story

• The goat was walking one day and found Lisa’s pearl necklace on a tree.

Lisa's Story 3

• Lisa gets the camera and takes a picture of her with Mr. Burns and Mr. Burns gets his plant back.

Homer's Story

• Homer discovers that the Texan has hid the gold in the caves and brings the family with him so they can help him search for the gold to pay for an operation for Bart.

Bart's Story

• Bart explains the reason he was sitting in the desk when Edna Krabappel found him there, it was because he was helping Nelson.

• This episode's multiple stories with little connection format is similar to the classic episode "22 Short Films About Springfield".
• The direction of the Mexican standoff and the music at the end of the episode, during which the characters assemble in the cave with the sought-after gold, reference the Sergio Leone and Ennio Morricone masterpiece, Il Triello at the climax of the The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
• It is revealed that Snake's last name is Jailbird, he was once a fair-minded archeologist (à la Indiana Jones), his son's name is Jeremy (who was shown in a previous episode helping Snake steal a bike), this is a retcon of the fact that, in Snake's first appearances, he was credited as "jailbird."
• This episode was rated TV14-DL in the US, the ninth time for The Simpsons.
• Frank Grimes' tombstone is one of the items in the scavenger hunt.
• If you look at the goat when it jumps through the window in Lisa's story, you can see her pearl necklace on his horn.
• Snake before he was a thief was a habilitated archeologist (though he erroneously asks for a "natural history museum", which certainly is not connected to archeology in any kind), however in Springfield Up he is seen bagging someone in high school

• The episode's title, "The Seemingly Never-Ending Story", is a parody of the book The Neverending Story by Michael Ende.
• Commander McBragg (Maurice LaMarche), a character from the 1960s cartoon Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales, calls the scavenger hunt duel. He had pink skin in the original version, but of course in the Simpsons' world, was recolored yellow.
• When we see the club Mr. Burns was a part of for the first time, you can see Rich Uncle Pennybags, mascot of the game Monopoly. He was previously seen in Thirty Minutes over Tokyo and A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love.
• Moe and Edna's love theme song (which Moe played in the jukebox) is "Fly Me to the Moon" by Bart Howard, as sung by Frank Sinatra.
• Numerous scenes feature music from Beethoven's 6th Symphony (when Lisa has to deal with the big horn sheep) and Aaron Copland's Hoe Down.

This episode won an Emmy in 2006 for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour).